Chapter 1 A Consecrated Life - Far Eastern Bible College

course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me
a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge,
shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them
also that love his appearing.
Shortly after this, Paul was beheaded by the Roman Emperor Nero.
The Apostle Peter was also martyred at about the same time. According
to tradition, Peter was crucified upside down. Andrew was crucified on
a X-shaped cross at Edessa. Matthew was slain in Ethiopia in AD 60.
Mark, the author of the Gospel of Mark, was dragged to pieces by the
people of Alexandria in Egypt. Luke was hanged on an olive tree in
Greece. Thomas was speared to death in India. And many more
believers also chose to suffer and lose their lives rather than to give up
their faith in Christ. This has continued throughout the centuries of
church history. Some were fed to the lions, others were burned at the
stake. During the time of the Spanish Inquisition, many true believers
were tortured or hanged because they believed in Christ. More recently,
communist nations also persecuted Christians with hard labor,
imprisonment and even death.
In China, thousands of Christians are imprisoned—more than in
any country in the world—for holding worship, preaching or
distributing Bibles without permission. A heavy crush down began in
1996. House Church activities were disrupted and stopped in different
parts of China. The heartbreaking news of the arrest of the House
Church Christians who were brutally beaten and severely fined,
continue to flow out of China since then.
According to an article in the New York Times (March 1997), more
Christians have died in this century for being Christians than in the first
nineteen centuries after the birth of Christ. Eleven countries where
Christians are currently enduring great religious persecution are China,
Sudan, Pakistan, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Egypt, Nigeria,
Cuba, Laos and Uzbekistan.
While we may marvel at the willingness of these believers to suffer
and even to die for the sake of Christ, we must prepare for the
possibility that we too may one day have to do the same. In the end
times, there will be widespread persecution, perhaps even in countries
90 A Consecrated Life